NEA State Presidents and Executive Directors Meet

On Sunday, October 8th ISEA Executive Director Jan Reinicke and I boarded a plane for Harrisburg, PA to gather with other NEA state Presidents and Executive Directors. For the first time in a number of years, NEA state Presidents and Executive Directors held a joint meeting (rather than in separate locations). We had the chance to stay in the beautiful The Hershey Hotel (pictured at left) where our meetings were also held. We met beginning Sunday evening through Wednesday noon, October 11th.

On Tuesday evening, October 10th we were all invited to the Governor's Residence (pictured at right) for a reception. Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell was out on the campaign trail (running for re-election), so the event was co-hosted by the Pennsylvania Education Association and the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

The first to greet our group was Mandy Rendell (one of two golden retrievers a part of the Rendell family) pictured here with fellow blogger and president of the Texas State Teachers Association Donna New Haschke (pictured at left). You'll have to check out Donna's blog on the TSTA website at http://www.tstaweb.net/mtstatic/.

The reception was held in a grand dining room and with the beautiful fall weather that we enjoyed, the doors to the gardens were open for us all to view. Pictured here are two of the statues we found along the walkways in the Governor's Residence Garden.











There were nearly 80 presidents and executive directors in all that participated in the 4 day meetings in Pennsylvania. Below you will see several state leaders that posed for me during the evening at the Governor's residence. Larry Wicks, Executive Director of Education Minnesota and Barbara Kerr, president of the California Teachers Association found a bench along the garden path to enjoy the evening.

Friends that I enjoyed strolling the gardens with are (from left to right) Princess Moss, president of the Virginia Education Association; Frances Steenbergen, president of the Kentucky Education Association; Barbara Grogg, president of the Delaware State Education Association and me.

Here state leaders enjoy a beverage at the edge of the gardens. Pictured here (from left to right) are Ken Swanson, president of the Illinois Education Association; Jess Wolf, president of the Nebraska State Education Association; our own Jan Reinicke, Executive Director of Team ISEA; Charles Delauder, president of the West Virginia Education Association; and Phil Apruzzese, president of the Connecticut Education Association.


Also enjoying the evening are (pictured from left to right) Judy Schaubach, president of Education Minnesota; and Donna DeKraai, president of the South Dakota Education Association.


As the evening was winding down, one last photo of friends enjoying the evening! Pictured here (from left to right) my mentor Judy Briganti, president of the Indiana State Teachers Association (and check out Judy's new blog on the ISTA website http://www.ista-in.org/blog.cfm?blogid=1); Greg Jung, president of Missouri-NEA; and Donna New Haschke, president of the Texas State Teachers Association.

Thanks go out to PSEA president Jim Weaver and PSEA Executive Director Carolyn Dumaresq for hosting the evening and hosting our stay in your beautiful state!